Two Moons On August 27?

No, Mars will not swell to the size of the moon tonight. Have you received an email today talking about how Mars will look like the moon tonight? Don't worry; as usual, Mars will be 314 million km from Earth, and remain a tiny reddish star in the early night sky. There will be no second moon.

• What's the Hoax?

  Back on August 27th, 2003, Mars came the closest it had been to Earth in 60,000 years -- a mere 56 million km! That's when someone sent out the following email:

• Dear All,

• Don't miss to see - TWO MOON ON 27 AUGUST*

• *27th Aug the Whole World is waiting for.............*

• Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August.

• It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

• Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again]

• For some reason...

  The same email, for some reason, has gone out every August 27th ever since. But note:

• As usual, there will only be one moon tonight!

  

  It looks like this.